Holes appear in pact to limit outside money in Brown-Warren race

The so-called People’s Pledge – signed earlier this year by Republican incumbent Scott Brown and his Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren – was intended to keep outside groups from spending large amounts on advertising in this year’s highly competitive Massachusetts Senate race.

The so-called People’s Pledge – signed earlier this year by Republican incumbent Scott Brown and his Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren – was intended to keep outside groups from spending large amounts on advertising in this year’s highly competitive Massachusetts Senate race.

But, with five weeks to go until Election Day, a number of these groups are finding creative means to campaign outside of traditional media, with their combined spending already totaling more than $1 million.

The Washington-based League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group, is responsible for the majority of the outside spending in the race so far – $544,000 as of Friday, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The LCV effort has been aimed at Brown: Jeff Gohringer, a spokesman for the group, contended that, while Brown professes to be a moderate Republican, his Senate votes on environmental issues belie this claim.

In fact, until Sept. 19 – less than two weeks ago – 100 percent of outside spending in the contest had gone to either oppose Brown or support Warren, according to FEC.

However, beginning on Sept. 20, Americans for Tax Reform, a group advocating lower taxes founded by conservative activist Grover Norquist, reported $216,000 spent on direct mail. Americans for Tax Reform did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

In addition, American Crossroads, a so-called Super-PAC created by Republican strategist and former Bush White House adviser Karl Rove, reported spending $25,000 on phone calls in the Massachusetts Senate race last Monday and Tuesday.

American Crossroads did not respond to requests for comment, but both Senate campaigns filed dueling FEC complaints Friday – with the complaint by the Warren campaign aimed at anti-Warren phone calls made by Crossroads GPS, an arm of American Crossroads.

The pledge seems to have kept spending from out-of-state groups low, as compared to other competitive Senate races this year.

Neighboring Senate races in Connecticut and Maine – which have not been polling as closely as the Brown-Warren contest – nonetheless are outpacing Massachusetts in outside spending. FEC filings show outside groups pouring $1.9 million into the Maine contest, and $1.5 million into the Connecticut race. Outside spending is running as high as $15 million so far in this year’s Texas and Wisconsin Senate races.

In Massachusetts, the biggest outside spender to date, the League of Conservation Voters, hopes to reach 100,000 homes with a door-to-door campaign of more than 50 canvassers. Gohringer said the LCV would run ads on television if the pledge did not exist, and had run a $2 million campaign prior to the pledge.

Gohringer said theLeague of Conservation Voters gives Brown a cumulative score of 22 on environmental issues. By contrast, Gohringer said the leaguehad scored Maine Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe at 66 and 65, respectively. Gohringer said Brown scored a zero in his first year in the Senate, 2010.

“Brown has worked hard to mislead a lot of people on his voting record,” Gohringer charged.

Page 2 of 2 - A second union-funded group, Working America, has already spent $35,000 on a door-to-door campaign. Jenn Jannon, the organization’s eastern regional director, said the group is focusing on a strictly economic message in areas such as Quincy, Weymouth, and Worcester.

“We are looking at working class moderates and swing voters,” Jannon said in an interview.

Jannon said a staff of 40 canvassers has already knocked on 10,000 doors in the state, and hopes to make 80,000 visits by Election Day.